Paleoepidemiological Patterns of Interpersonal Aggression in a Prehistoric Central California Population From CA-ALA-329

摘要

Interpersonal aggression is assessedpaleoepidemiologically in a large skeletal populationfrom the CA-ALA-329 site located on the southeasternside of San Francisco Bay, California. This comprehen-sive analysis included all currently recognized skeletalcriteria, including craniofacial fracture, projectile injury,forearm fracture, and perimortem bone modification.Craniofacial injury is moderately common, showing anadult prevalence of 9.0% with facial lesions accountingfor >50% of involvement. Clinical studies suggest thatsuch separate evaluation of facial involvement providesa useful perspective for understanding patterns of inter-personal aggression. In this group male facial involve-ment is significantly greater than in females, parallelingthe pattern found widely in contemporary populations aswell as in African apes. When compared to other NorthAmerican skeletal samples the prevalence of adult cranial vault injury (3.3%) and especially projectile injury(4.4%) are quite high. However, well documented popula-tions from southern California show markedly higherprevalence for both types of skeletal markers of aggres-sion. Forearm fracture is also assessed using a rigorousradiographic methodology and results suggest that theseinjuries are not reliable indicators of interpersonalaggression. Lastly, perimortem bone modification wasnot observed in this population, although it has beenrecorded from other (older) sites nearby. This study pro-vides an evaluation of multiple skeletal markers of inter-personal aggression in the largest sample from a singlesite yet reported in North America and, joined with con-sideration of cultural context, helps further illuminateboth geographic and temporal patterns of interpersonalaggression in California. Am J Phys Anthropol 139:462-473, 2009.